Higgs Boson Hunter Gianotti to Deliver Science on the Square Lecture – March 5 at NYU

Physicist Fabiola Gianotti, leader of one of the two teams to detect the Higgs boson particle, will deliver “The Higgs Boson and Our Life,” on Wed., March 5, 3:30 p.m. at NYU’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology (CGSB) Auditorium (12 Waverly Place, between Greene and Mercer Streets).

The lecture is part of NYU’s “Science on the Square,” a series of lectures focusing on scientific topics of interest to the general public and sponsored by NYU’s Dean for Science.

In 2012, two teams of physicists – ATLAS, headed by Gianotti, and CMS – announced the discovery of a new particle that they concluded was the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle that is a building block of the universe. The event marked the end of nearly 50-year search for a particle that had been theorized by François Englert and Peter Higgs, who were awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of their work.

Gianotti’s lecture describes the unprecedented instruments and challenges that have allowed such an accomplishment, the physics meaning and relevance of this discovery, and the implications for our day-by-day life.

Gianotti, who worked on the ATLAS experiment beginning in 2003 and who was appointed to its leadership role in 2009, oversaw the project’s 3,000 physicists, setting the group's overall scientific strategy and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the massive particle detector.

Gianotti and NYU physicists who were part of the ATLAS team appear in the forthcoming documentary, “Particle Fever,” which chronicles the search and discovery of the particle.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call 212.998.3800. Reporters interested in attending must RSVP to James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu. Subways: N/R [8th Street], 6 [Astor Place].